


Happily

by the_kat_in_the_hat



Category: One Direction (Band)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 7,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_kat_in_the_hat/pseuds/the_kat_in_the_hat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Mackenzie's first summer in a new town before she goes back to school in a new high school. They've been living in their new town for a month and Mackenzie and her older sister Quinn have both made friends. As it gets closer to the day they have to go back to school Mackenzie finds herself in several awkward situations with her sister's younger boyfriend. Hopefully it will all end happily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ~You Don't Understand~

**Author's Note:**

> One Direction is not in this story; however, it is based off their song Happily from the Midnight Memories album

~You Don't Understand~

Mackenzie laid upside down on her family's brown leather couch watching television with her new best friend Ellie. They were watching old episodes of Cupcake Wars and wishing they had the same mad cupcake skills as the people competing on the show.

Mackenzie, her sister Quinn, and their mother had moved to Lexington, South Carolina at the beginning of the summer. A couple days after they'd arrived Ellie's family had hosted a cook out to welcome them to the neighborhood. The girls had immediately clicked and they'd hung out almost every day since.

The show cut to commercial and the two girls turned to stare at each other.

"How are you and Justin?" Mackenzie wiggled her eyebrows as she spoke.

Ellie sat up and flipped around so she was upright before flipping her blonde curls over one shoulder. "We're in the same situation we were in yesterday and every day before that."

Justin and Ellie were good friends, close friends, really close friends.

"You're still friends with benefits!? Relationships like that aren't healthy because what happens when one of you ends up in a real relationship? No one knows because there are about twenty billion ways it could end up and none of them are like the Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake movie." Mackenzie ranted. Mackenzie had seen too many of Quinn's relationships go south because of friends with benefits and didn't want it to happen to Ellie.

"It'll be fine Kenzie, you just don't understand how I work now. After Kylie cheated on me last year I was a mess for months. Now I'm better and I've decided that instead of letting yet another idiotic male break my heart I'd protect myself by getting the benefits without the commitment. It's better this way. Trust me." Ellie explained to Mackenzie for about the twentieth time that summer.

At that moment the commercial break ended and Cupcake Wars came back on. Silence ensued and Mackenzie slowly turned right side up as well, her straight brown hair slightly fuzzy due to static.


	2. Chapter 2

~What You Do To Me When You Hold His Hand~

An hour after Ellie had gone home Quinn barged into the house dragging her boyfriend Henderson with her.

"Hey Kenz!" Quinn chirped as the couple passed the couch.

Mackenzie saw their interlocked fingers and sighed. It reminded her of their second day in town. Their mother had made them go to the grocery store with her to make sure she got cereal and oven pizzas that they would all eat. Henderson had been there with his mom and Mackenzie had immediately noticed him and how, well, hot he was. He had shaggy brown hair, tan skin, and gorgeous blue eyes. Unfortunately Quinn had notice him too...and Quinn had always been better with boys. Mackenzie hadn't told Quinn she had a crush on Henderson too, if she had Quinn probably wouldn't have gone for him, but Mackenzie hadn't spoken up and now she was being forced to watch the happy couple converse with her mom and swing their interlocked hands back and forth.

Mackenzie suddenly noticed her fists were clenched, she hardly ever got mad but when she did it was bad.

Quickly Mackenzie ran up the stairs and grabbed her old camera off her desk. She put a role of film inside and headed back down the steps.

"Mom, I'm going for a walk!" Mackenzie didn't even really care that she'd just interrupted a conversation. She just needed to cool down and get away from her sister and Henderson in the process.


	3. Chapter 3

~ We Were Meant To Be But...~

Mackenzie smiled as she observed a little boy pushing an obviously younger little boy in the baby swing. She held up her camera and click. The image had been captured in her camera. It was a dinosaur but Mackenzie loved it none the less.

Mackenzie walked away from the playground and towards the nature trail on the other side of the open grassy "picnic area" that was crowded with teenage boys playing Frisbee. The part of Mackenzie that made her a girl was now acutely aware of the fact that she was wearing a pair of highly inadequate khaki shorts and tee shirt that said "F*** Cancer". Inwardly groaning Mackenzie picked up the pace desperate to get away from the pack of testosterone chasing the flying blue disc behind her.

That was when it happened. Mackenzie stopped focusing on where she was going and focused instead on how fast she was getting there. She walked right into something broad and firm and fell backwards, into a bush.

"I'm so sorry." The voice was masculine. Mackenzie looked up to be greeted by jet black hair and sparkling hazel eyes.

"No I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Mackenzie averted her gaze again, her voice barely above a whisper.

The mystery boy held out his hand and after hesitating for a second Mackenzie took it.

"I'm James by the way." He smiled and Mackenzie noticed he had one dimple on his left cheek.

"I'm Mackenzie, it's nice to meet you James." Mackenzie's voice was still soft but not nearly as soft as it had been before.

"I like your shirt." James smirked.

Mackenzie blushed, "I forgot I was wearing it when I left the house."

James laughed a little before he really seemed to study her. Mackenzie wasn't that tall but neither was James. He looked like he was about two or three inches taller than her and she was five foot two. She had some freckles but not many and her hair was relatively long.

"Hopefully I'll see you around Kenzie. I can call you Kenzie right?" As James spoke he was slowly backing away from her.

"Yeah, it's fine and see you around."

Mackenzie turned around to start walking down the nature trail when she felt someone grab her shoulder and they were laughing. She turned around to see James. "You've got a lot of leaves in your hair." He reached up into her hair and begins to pull them out. Mackenzie held her breath.

"Are you holding your breath?" James asked as he pulled the final leaf from Mackenzie's hair.

She exhaled in response.

James laughed again, "I guess we were meant to be. I'm already taking your breath away."


	4. Chapter Four

~A Twist Of Fate~

Mackenzie sighed and turned off the lights in the bathroom. There were no windows and a towel had been stuffed under the cracks between the door and the doorway to keep light from flooding in. She set to work quickly uncapping the film canister and cutting into the individual shots before placing them in the already mixed chemicals for developing one by one. She would set one and wait the allotted developing time her old photography teacher had said to use before she would set to work blowing it up. Then she would hang it to dry. She kept at it like this until she got to the last ten pictures.

There were muffled sounds from the hallway then the door to the bathroom flew open. It was Henderson. "I didn't know you were back...sorry." The door was quickly shut again. Mackenzie cursed herself for not locking the door and finished the final ten pictures. Some of them were completely white while the lucky ones got away with only white spots.

Normally Mackenzie would leave and come back when her pictures were dry, but today she sat on the bathroom floor and waited. It seemed to last forever but the timer went off and Mackenzie knew they were finally dry. She gathered up all her equipment and moved it back to her bedroom first. Then she went back for the pictures and to dispose of the chemicals. After dumping the chemicals down the drain and rinsing out the sink she took her pictures, even the ruined ones, and headed back to her room to stick them in her portfolio.

That's when Henderson stepped out of her sister's room and said, "Hey Mackenzie."

Mackenzie jumped slightly and dropped her pictures. At the same time Henderson and Mackenzie bent down to pick them up.

"I'm glad to see I didn't mess them all up," Henderson said handing Mackenzie his stack of photographs.

"It's fine." Mackenzie mumbled before looking up to see Henderson just staring at her.

"God you're pretty," He breathed before averting his gaze and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Henderson hurried down the hall to the bathroom while Mackenzie hurried back to her room. She found herself slightly out of sorts. Henderson was not making this easy on her. First of all he was dating her sister, second of all he was over at her house all the time, and now he was telling her how pretty she was?!

Mackenzie began to worry that she would never get over Henderson, that's when she realized what he had said. He thought she was pretty. Mackenzie's face broke into a smile. Then she remembered James.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a photography expert. I read a Wiki article on how to develop pictures at home and it didn't say how to properly dispose of the chemicals so unless you know for sure that is what you're supposed to do I wouldn't do it.


	5. Chapter Five

~Made It So You Had To Walk Away~

Mackenzie walked along with Ellie an Justin walked beside them. The three were talking animatidly about starting their junior year of high school and they specualted as to what being an upperclassmen would feel like.

"I think it'll be like it was last year. Except this year we'll all be taller." Mackenzie said.

Ellie giggled, "I know, but I wish it would be like the movies where we'd get to push the little kids around."

"Like this!" Justin smirked before pushing Ellie into Mackenzie.

"Hey!" Ellie shouted before trying to push Justin back, but she was failing miserably.

"Sorry babe, but you're little and I pushed you. Just like the movies right?" He smiled at Ellie and she crossed her arms and huffed, but only for a second because then she was giving Mackenzie an evil look.

"What are you-" Mackenzie was cut off when Ellie started shouting across the playground "HENDERSON! OVER HERE!"

Henderson looked over at them and grinned before heading in their direction.

"Ellie, why'd you do that?"

"I'm playing matchmaker. No matter how sickeningly sweey Henderson and Quinn are together you and Henderson would be even cuter so..." Ellie trailed off when Justin elbowed her in the side and both girls turned to face Henderson.

"Hey Henderson. You should walk with us for a bit." Ellie suggested sweetly.

"Okay."

Fifteen minutes later Henderson and Justin were still talking about football and Ellie and Mackenzie were walking behind them. Ellie decided it was time Henderson and Mackenzie did some talking. She sighed loudly. The boys didn't respond but Mackenzie shot her friend a weird look. Ellie winked and sighed loudly again.

Justin turned around, "Yes Ellie?" His eyebrows were raised in a 'this better be important' way.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"Then go."

"I don't wanna go alone."

"Take Kenzie with you."

"No. You're going to take me because...you can protect me from rapists while Kenz will just you know not protect me." Ellie struggled to come up with an excuse.

Justin rolled his eyes, "Fine." He started walking towards the bathrooms that were nearby.

"Not those. I only like the ones by the playground."

"That's a fifteen minute walk!"

"Please Justin!"

Before you could say peas porridge hot Ellie was dragging Justin away from the trail and towards the playground.

Henderson turned to look at Mackenzie and there was a drawn out awkard silence. "You wanna go lay down somewhere nice?"

"What do you mean somewhere nice?" Mackenzie scrunched her eyebrows together.

"It's a secret." Henderson held out his hand and Mackenzie took it after a slight hesitation.

Henderson lead her off the trail and through a patch of woods into a small quiet clearing. He sat down on the lush grass and Mackenzie followed suit.

There was another silence and then the two found themselves laying on their backs staring up at the sky.

"What are you and Quinn going to do when she leaves for college?" Mackenzie was surprised that she'd had the guts to speak first.

"I dunno, we haven't really talked about it..."

Mackenzie squirmed a little bit, "Uh, do you know where you're going to go to college?"

"This is going to sound bad but I have no clue what I'm going to do."

"I don't have an idea either."

"It's different for you though, you're not a senior."

Mackenzie sighed, "Quinn knew what she was going to do when she was a junior, so my mom thinks I should too."

Mackenzie turned her head and saw that Henderson was already looking at her, "I don't wanna talk about Quinn anymore, let's talk about you."

Mackenzie scrunched up her nose, "Why? I'm not very intersting."

Henderson rolled onto his side and propped his head up with one arm, "I think you seem pretty interseting, you have hobbies right?"

Mackenzie lay there on her back pondering why Henderson would be so interested in her, She studied him intently while he pulled grass out of the ground. He smiled wickedly in her direction before sprinkling the grass over her face.Her mouth made an 'o' shape and she quickly brushed it off. There was another minute of silence.

"I like to take pictures."

Henderson smiled, "Me too!"

Mackenzie quirked and eyebrow as she sat up, Henderson sat up too.

"You don't believe me? Just go look at my instagram I have like four hundred items."

That set Mackenzie off into a burst of giggles. Henderson began to laugh too after Mackenzie snorted. Soon they had both fallen backwards because they were laughing too hard.

They calmed down and Henderson just stared at her for a minute. "There's something I need to do now."

"What is it?" Both Mackenzie and Henderson were whispering and Mackenzie was suddenly very aware of the fact that there were only two inches max seperating their faces.

"Just promise not to freak out."

"I promise."

As soon as those words left Mackenzie's lips Henderson closed the space between them. It was a short, sweet, and simple kiss. They pulled back and just laid there for a minute. Then both of them seemed to register what had happened and they both stood up and dusted the grass of themselves.

"We should probably go back, I bet Ellie and Justin are looking for us." Mackenzie mumbled.

"You're right, and I have to go meet Quinn somewhere anyway." They both froze. Quinn...


	6. Chapter 6

~It's 4 A.M.~

Mackenzie laid in her bed tossing and turning. She couldn't decide how she felt. She was happy Henderson had kissed, felt guilty because he was dating her sister, and was confused as to why he had kissed her. She was also starting to wonder about James, what would happen when she saw him again? Would she act as stupid as she had during their first encounter? She hoped not. And then there was the fact that Quinn was just down the hall snoring, not aware of the fact that her boyfriend and little sister had kissed. She couldn't shake the feeling that whatever she was doing with Henderson was wrong, but at the same time it felt so right...

Without thinking Mackenzie reached out and grabbed her phone off her bedside table and called Ellie.

"It's four in the morning Kenz."

"Hello to you too. I have a confession to make."

"Tell me everything," Ellie sounded very awake suddenly.

"Okay so I really like Henderson."

"Why?"

"He's good looking, he's really sweet, he's the only person besides adults who always calls me Mackenzie. Never once has he ever called me Kenzie or Kenz an it makes me feel weird inside. He also told me I was really pretty the other day, when we were in the park yesterday he told me I was interesting and he kissed me." It all came out in a rush and immediately Mackenzie felt slightly better.

"He kissed you?" Ellie sounded giddy.

"It was just a peck."

"But it was still a kiss!" Ellie sounded really giddy now.

"But there's this other guy who's actually single that I think I may like even though I've only talked to him once."

"Name please?"

"James."

"I'll be over as soon as I can get there after sunrise."

"Okay."


	7. Chapter 7

~I Know That You're With Him~

Mackenzie sat alone in her front yard waiting for Ellie to show up. She was pulling up grass and throwing it across the lawn when a familiar face walked by. He backtracked and stopped. Mackenzie looked up and was greeted by James and his mega watt smile.

"Hey Kenzie."

"Hey James." She smiled back at him.

"So, Kenz, are you free tonight?" James asked before quickly looking behind him and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, why?" Mackenzie cocked her head to the side, she had a feeling she knew where this was going and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about it.

"Would you like to go with me to the movies tonight?"

"Uh...sure!" Mackenzie smiled again and stood up to walk over towards the sidewalk. James gave her a peck on the cheek and told her he'd pick her up at six. Mackenzie nodded her head and watched James walk away.

"Why were you talking to James?" At the sound of Ellie's voice Mackenzie spun around to smile at her best friend but her face fell when she saw Ellie's worried look.

"He's the boy I told you about on the phone last night."

"No you told me about a Hames, that's a strange name by the way."

"No, I said James."

Ellie groaned and grabbed Mackenzie's hand before dragging her into the house and up to Mackenzie's room. Ellie shut the door behind them and turned to face Mackenzie. Ellie was slightly shorter so it was awkward when she grabbed both of Mackenzie's shoulders.

But Mackenzie didn't have to think about the awkwardness of the situation long before Ellie was taking a deep breath. "James is a player and has a reputation for getting what he wants whether or not the girl wants it and what he wants is the V."

Mackenzie just stared at Ellie for a minute before Ellie released Mackenzie's shoulders. Mackenzie dropped onto her bed and held her stomach. "I feel sick now."

Then someone knocked on Mackenzie's bedroom door. Before the girls could respond Quinn popped her head in, "Hey Ellie, can I talk to Kenz alone for a minute."

"Sure, I've got to go meet Justin in a little while anyway. See ya around Kenzie, Quinn." And with that Ellie was gone.

Quinn shut the door again and that's when she began to silently cry. "Henderson told me he'd kissed another girl so I'm ignoring him." Quinn stood up a bit straighter and wiped away her tears before sniffling a bit, "Do you wanna go do something?"

"Sure, but I have to be back by five cause I have to get ready for a date tonight."

"We're not hanging out anymore." Upon hearing Quinn utter those words Mackenzie opened her mouth to protest but was cut off. "Be in my room at five, I'm going to get you ready for your first date!" Quinn scurried from the room ad-libbing "my baby sister finally reeled in a man" to the tune of Best Song Ever by One Direction. Mackenzie rolled her eyes and then grabbed her camera. She needed the time between then and five to go by quickly so she wouldn't have time to over analyze her situation with James the player.

Mackenzie found herself wandering through the woods by the nature trail. She'd stop every once in a while to photograph a flower or toadstool. She even got a bird in it's nest. Before she could recognize the way she was going she ended up in a lush clearing. It was where Henderson had taken her earlier. In fact he happened to have been there at the very moment Mackenzie walked out into the open. His back was turned to her, his hands buried in his pockets, his gaze seemed to be upward, looking at the sky.

Mackenzie held up her camera and click. She sighed when Henderson turned around. He smiled a sad smile and ambled closer. As if pulled by some unknown force Mackenzie also gravitated towards him. They met halfway.

Henderson held out his hand. Mackenzie knew what he wanted, he wanted the camera. She clutched it tighter.

"C'mon Mackenzie, let me see your camera." His voice was soft and gentle, like he was trying to coax a four year old out of climbing a tree or eating candy before dinner.

"I don't like for other people to hold my camera."

Henderson smiled and gently pried the camera from her fingers before holding up and looking through the lens at Mackenzie.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"You're a very pretty girl and you need to know that it's okay to be the subject sometimes. Don't hide behind your camera." Henderson muttered before Mackenzie heard the familiar click.

Henderson handed Mackenzie her camera back. "We should get you home, you have a date to get ready for don't you?"

"How do you know about that?" Mackenzie asked as Henderson began walking, he was a good six or so inches taller so Mackenzie struggled to catch up.

"Ellie told Justin and Justin told me and I'm supposed to tell Quinn but my guess is she already knows and it's not like she would stop you. She doesn't know any more about James than you do." Henderson shrugged, "Plus your sister is not exactly speaking to me at this moment."

They walked in silence for a while until they were in front of Mackenzie's house.

"What did you tell Quinn about, you know, the kiss?"

"I didn't mention your name, don't worry." Henderson seemed to be debating something in his head for a moment and then he leaned over and kissed Mackenzie. This time was different though, this kiss was hungrier. They parted and then Mackenzie stood on her toes and kissed Henderson. His fingers slipped into her hair and played with it while her hands fisted the front of his tee shirt. This time when they broke apart they just stayed there, foreheads pressed together and panting.

"Good luck with James tonight Mackenzie." And then Henderson walked away.


	8. Chapter 8

I Wonder If He Knows~

"I'm almost done curling your hair Kenzie. C'mon smile." Quinn tried again. "It was you that Henderson kissed wasn't it?"

"What?" Mackenzie asked her eyes growing wide.

"I know it was you. You've been acting weird lately and Ellie totally ships you guys together whatever that means so I've put the pieces of the puzzle together. I've been thinking about dumping him anyway. I kinda want a boyfriend that's my age...or older....Okay Kenz, I've finished and you look absolutely stunning!"

Mackenzie rolled her eyes and as calmly as possible she hurried down the stairs. She peeked through a window and saw James parked in a car out in front of her house and exited the house. As she walked closer she noticed James on the phone, he looked angry. Mackenzie was painfully reminded of how public her kiss with Henderson was earlier. Did James somehow know about it?


	9. Chapter 9

~I Touched Your Skin~

James hung up then turned to smile at Mackenzie. "Hey Kenz. Hop on in."

Mackenzie let out a breath of relief, he wasn't mad at her, he didn't know about the kiss. Mackenzie wasn't sure why she cared if James knew, but she did. Maybe she didn't want to hurt his feelings or maybe she didn't want him to think she was a player too. Maybe he'd get the wrong impression of what she'd do.

The drive to the movie theatre was short and silent and they pulled in and parked in a secluded corner.

"We're a little early so let's just sit in here and chat, get to know each other better. Do you have any hobbies?" James smiled over at her and rested his hand on her bare knee.

Mackenzie was suddenly very aware of how short the dress Quinn had picked out for her was.

"I like photography. Do you have any hobbies?" Mackenzie gulped as his hand inched up higher.

"I play baseball in the spring."

"That's cool." Mackenzie looked at the clock, they had a couple minutes before the movie started, they needed to go buy tickets. Mackenzie then became aware of where they were parked. She began to wonder if James had any intention of going into the theatre at all. When his hand began to rub circles into her inner thigh Mackenzie knew it was time to go inside.

"Look at the time! We need to go or the movie will have started before we can get our tickets." Mackenzie blurted.

James furrowed his eyebrows but the quickly replaced it with a smile. "Alright, let's go in."

They both stepped out of the car and walked towards the theatre. Mackenzie taking extra care to make sure she didn't get too close to James and his wandering hands.


	10. Chapter 10

~If He Feels My Traces In Your Hair~

For the first half of the movie Mackenzie was able to relax as James did not try to touch her in any way, shape, or form. In fact Mackenzie was actually enjoying the movie and she almost forgot she was on a date. She was brought back to reality when she felt James's hand on her knee.

Mackenzie began to squirm and James laughed before sliding his hand up farther. He thought he was being cute and funny! Mackenzie was really beginning to regret saying yes, she did not enjoy being touched like this.

Before she really knew what was going on Mackenzie felt her face being turned to face James.

"What are you-" Mackenzie was cut off when James ran his finger slowly along her bottom lip. Mackenzie then tried to pull away but James caught the back of her neck, preventing her from moving farther away, and leaned in. Mackenzie began to panic when she saw James scrunch his nose up slightly and turn to sniff her hair again.

"I was expecting the burnt hair smell, but not the smell of cologne." James raised an eyebrow and pulled back to give her a questioning look.

"Uh...my sister is dating Henderson so he's over at our house a lot and he probably sprayed some in her room and she was helping me get ready and yeah." Mackenzie said it all in a rush and watched as hurt quickly flashed through James's eyes. They both turned back to the screen in time to see the credits begin to roll.

As they left the theatre James didn't try to touch Mackenzie at all, this made Mackenzie begin to think that maybe Ellie had been wrong, maybe James didn't want the V.

The drive back to Mackenzie's house was mostly silent. The only noise was the occasional clicking of the turning signal.

When they pulled up in front of Mackenzie's house James turned in his seat to face Mackenzie. "I know how you feel you know, you like him, but you can't have him. I'm in a similar predicament. The girl I liked moved to a whole other state and I'm stuck here."

Mackenzie smiled sadly at James, "I'm sorry." She unbuckled and opened her door and climbed out. She was about to shut the door when James began to speak. "Do you wanna go back to mine? My parents are out of town for the weekend."

"No!" Mackenzie slammed the door, Ellie was right, all James wanted was the V.

"Girls like you make me sick. Don't wear stuff like that and let me touch you if you're not going to put out!" James drove off going way past the speed limit.

Mackenzie didn't really know why she was upset, but she was and she could feel the tears coming. One tear slipped down her cheek and more followed. Behind her she heard the front door open and close then she heard a male voice, "Mackenzie?"

She turned around to see Henderson. He motioned for her to join him on the steps. Mackenzie ambled over to the steps and sat down beside Henderson. He wrapped his arm around her.

"Now, tell me what's wrong Mackenzie."

"James yelled me because I didn't want to have sex with him and I don't know why but it made me upset," as Mackenzie spoke she wiped away her tears and started to calm down a bit because she knew it was silly to cry over a guy like James.

"I know exactly why that upset you. Girls are people pleasers and you didn't please James. He made that very clear in a very rude way and that upset you." Henderson spoke and as he spoke he rubbed his thumb over Mackenzie's shoulder.

"Why are you upset Henderson?"

Henderson cracked a small smile, "Your sister just broke up with me. Her exact words were 'I need a college guy, we're done. Sorry dude.'" Henderson laughed a little then seemed to think of something. "James may be a player but even he usually waits until the second date to ask a girl to sleep with him. Why do you think he thought he could try to get you to go all the way on the first date?"

"Honestly, he smelled your cologne in my hair and I think that made him think we'd been doing some stuff earlier today."

Henderson laughed again, "Is this a bad time to tell you I'm glad he smelled my cologne in your hair?"

"Why?"

"Because you dumped him faster this way."


	11. Chapter 11

~We're On Fire~

Mackenzie jerked awake to see Ellie kneeling on the floor beside her bed poking her in the face.

"Ellie, why are you here?" Mackenzie mumbled before swatting Ellie's finger away.

"Because your mom and Quinn left to go furniture shopping for Quinn's dorm and let me in." Ellie shrugged then began bouncing up and down.

"Why are you so happy?"

"Three very important things happened last night Kenz. Okay so one; James was arrested last night for underage drinking and drunk driving. He's being held in custody until his parents return, two; my mom bought me a super cute pair of panties as a early birthday present, and 3; Justin asked me to be his official girl friend and stuff again and this time I said yes!" Ellie squealed.

"Oh. My. God. Really?" Mackenzie shot out of bed and pulled Ellie to her feet and the two girls began to dance around the room.

After a while the girls calmed down and sat on the edge of Mackenzie's bed. "So...I heard from Justin who heard from Henderson that your date was awful, was it really that bad?"

"It wasn't the worst date ever, but I sure as hell didn't enjoy it." Mackenzie rolled her eyes, "Let's try not to revisit that ever again. You were right about James. All he wants is the V."

Ellie giggled, "I knew I was right, now let's go watch TV."

Thirty minutes later the girls had lost the remote and were stuck on Disney Junior watching these kids play a game where the jumped from piece of furniture to piece of furniture and if you touched the floor you were out because the floor was lava.

"This game looks so stupid."

"We're about to try to play it aren't we."

"Yup."

Ten minutes later the girls were jumping from one piece of furniture to the next, trying their best to not touch the floor.

Ellie jumped from the recliner to the couch and crawled to the other end of the couch where she jumped into a chair. "C'mon Kenzie! Catch up."

Mackenzie took a deep breath and jumped from the pillow she was perched on onto the recliner. She jumped from the recliner to the couch. But unlike Ellie she attempted to land on her feet and slipped on the slippery leather and face planted on the floor.

"Kenzie's dead and I win!" Ellie was singing to an unrecognizable tune.

Mackenzie crawled over to the chair once Ellie stood up to perform a victory dance and yanked her down onto the floor too.

"Sore loser!"

"Sore winner!"

"Congratulations Kenzie, now we're both on fire."


	12. Chapter 12

~I Don't Care What People Say When We're Together~

After Ellie left and her mom and Quinn came home Mackenzie retreated to her makeshift dark room to develop the photos she'd taken the day before. She went through the process of developing each picture separately then blowing them up before hanging them up to dry. She set the timer and stayed there afraid to leave because she could hear her mom and Quinn having a tiny argument on the steps about something to do with an ex-boyfriend and how she's okay with whoever dating that certain person but she doesn't want him in her house right now. Her mom was saying something about being selfish when Mackenzie decided it was time to make a break for her room. She dumped the chemicals down the sink and began to gather equipment to carry back to her room as soon as her timer goes off.

As soon as Mackenzie heard the ding she pushed the door open and walked by her mom and sister and noticed that they had stopped talking. She put her equipment away and headed back to the bathroom to get the photos. As she passed the stairs she heard her sister mutter "fine" and head down the stairs and open the front door. Somebody's here. 

Mackenzie quickly grabbed her pictures and on the way back to her room she heard her sister say, "Stay here, I'll go get Kenz."

Mackenzie scurried into her room and had just opened up her portfolio to put the photographs away when Quinn appeared in her doorway. "My ex-boyfriend is here to see you."

"Uh...okay." Mackenzie wasn't quite sure how to act but just stood there as Quinn left her bedroom and went back downstairs.

Mackenzie quickly followed after realizing she had a guest.

"Hey Henderson."

"Hey Mackenzie." Henderson smiled then sort of awkwardly looked around the room before Mackenzie grabbed his arm and led him up the stairs and to her bedroom.

"What's all that?" Henderson pointed to the small stack of photos on Mackenzie's bed that sat beside a photo album.

"My portfolio and the pictures from yesterday in the park."

Henderson gravitated towards the bed, but Mackenzie beat him there and sat down beside the pictures and fingered the album before she put it away. Next Mackenzie picked up the small stack of photographs and sighing she patted the bed beside her and Henderson gladly joined her to look over the pictures.

"You're really good at this Mackenzie." Henderson flipped through the photos slowly, studying each one intensely before moving on to the next. Finally Mackenzie realized he had reached the second to last photo.

"The last one you don't need to see, it didn't turn out that well." As Mackenzie spoke she reached for the photos Henderson was holding but he scooted away and flipped to the last picture anyway. It was the picture he had taken of Mackenzie.

"Didn't turn out that great huh?" Henderson arched an eyebrow. "Mackenzie, when will you learn that it's not okay to hide behind a camera...especially when you have a face as pretty as yours."

Mackenzie blushed and reached for the pictures again but this time Henderson stood up and held the photos over his head.

"Henderson!" Mackenzie whined.

"Mackenzie!" Henderson mimicked.

Mackenzie quickly stood up and grabbed the front of his shirt to keep her balance while she stood on her tip toes and reached for the pictures. Henderson laughed as she released his shirt and began jumping to try and reach them, it was no use really, Mackenzie was just too short.

"This height difference is no laughing matter." Mackenzie lightly shoved Henderson and Henderson sent her a look. Mackenzie gulped and then her jaw dropped as Henderson threw her photos into the air and they watched as they fell down around them like snow almost. Mackenzie watched it happen and it felt as if the world had slowed down. She felt like she was in a snow globe.

Mackenzie was brought back to real speed when Henderson snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Earth to Mackenzie."

"Sorry, I just zoned out a little. We should probably clean up our, I mean your, mess."

"Did you just blame this whole mess on me?" Henderson's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Yup."

"You'll regret that."

"Make me."

No sooner had the words left Mackenzie's lips then Henderson began tickling her sides. Mackenzie tried to move away but instead her legs buckled and she pulled Henderson down with her, but his fingers didn't stop moving. Mackenzie snorted through her laughter and Henderson began to laugh too.

A shadow stopped in the doorway to Mackenzie's room, "You guys are weird." Quinn smirked before walking away in the direction of her room.

"I don't care!" Mackenzie and Henderson shouted through their laughter.


	13. Chapter 13

~I Just Wanna Be The One To Hold You When You Sleep~

Mackenzie stirred in her sleep and immediately heard the music that plays on the menu screen for I Am Number Four. The movie was over...she had accidentally fallen asleep and missed her favorite part. Mackenzie sighed and tried to sit up, but she couldn't.

Then she heard it, the soft snores in her ear and felt something tighten around her waist. At first it scared her, but she relaxed once she realized it was just Henderson. Henderson...crap, if her mom knew or found out that a boy had slept in her room with her she was dead, deader than dead!

Mackenzie twisted so that she was facing Henderson and poked his cheek. "Wake up, please wake up now."

Henderson stirred and opened one eye. "Mackenzie?"

"Yeah, you accidentally spent the night."

Henderson's eyes widened, "Your mom is going to kill me."

"And me."

They both sat up quickly and removed themselves from the bed. After straightening everything up and turning off Mackenzie's laptop they heard a soft knock on the door. It was Quinn.

"Nothing happened!" Mackenzie blurted before Quinn could say anything.

Quinn rolled her eyes in response, "I would've heard if you guys had done something. I'm here to say your welcome. When mom went in early for work and asked what time Henderson left I covered for both of ya'll. So your welcome for saving your butts. Also, don't make a habit of having impromptu sleepovers."


	14. Chapter 14

~I just want it to be you and I forever~

It had been an hour since Henderson had left and Mackenzie was alone in the house. In fact because she was alone and no on was around to judge her Mackenzie was in the living room watching Mean Girls and doing the Jingle Bell Rock dance.

Then the door flew open and Mackenzie stopped dancing and instead turned to see a very concerned Elle.

"Ellie what's wrong?"

As soon as the words had left Mackenzie's lips Ellie burst into tears.

"It's...it's...J-Justin!"

"Did he cheat on you?"

Ellie shook her head no and sniffled as she began inhaling and exhaling deeply as she tried to calm down.

"Did he hit you?"

"N-n-no."

Ellie walked over to the couch and plopped down while continuing trying to catch her breath. Mackenzie sat down beside her and tried her best to wait patiently for Ellie to calm down.

At last Ellie was able to speak again. "Justin and I are always fighting over stupid little things because we're not used to this whole relationship thing and we flirt with other people a lot and it makes me upset and jealous and...and..."

"Ellie, tell Justin how you feel."

"What?"

"Tell. Justin. That. You. Don't. Want. Him. To. Flirt. With. Other. Girls."

"He won't."

"He might agree to try to stop if you promise him you'll stop flirting with other boys."

"So...I should tell him we're going to be exclusive? Like super exclusive."

"Yup."

"When?"

"How about now?"

"Alright, yeah, I'm going to go call Justin and tell him that we need to be super exclusive! No flirting with anyone else."

"Good for you Ellie."

"Do you mind stepping out of the room for a minute Kenzie? I want some privacy."

"Sure, no problem."


	15. Chapter 15

~I Know You Wanna Leave~

Mackenzie and Quinn sat alone at the dinner table as their mom was out with some friends she'd made. They were having a "girls night out" while Quinn and Mackenzie were being forced to have a "girls night in".

For the most part dinner was quiet, then Quinn had a sudden outburst.

"I don't want to go to college!"

"Quinn, it's alright to want to leave, you -"

"No Kenz, I'm scared to go to college. I'm excited about it, but I don't want to leave. I'm going to Pembroke and none of my friends from our old town are going there and all my friends here are either seniors in high school like Henderson and them or they're going to the local community college! Mackenzie, I'm going to be alone." Quinn just stared at Mackenzie for a good hard minute as silence washed over them again. They both began to eat again and about five minutes passed before Quinn finally spoke up again. "I know that you want to leave Kenz. You want to leave and go be with Henderson, but you should be careful okay? You're friends with benefits practically and that's not healthy. This isn't like the movies Kenzie and one of you is going to end up hurt because of it."

Mackenzie opened her mouth to defend herself then shut it quickly. Quinn was right, she needed to end this whole thing she had going on with Henderson right now. The whole situation reminded her of a conversation she'd had just a couple days before with Ellie, except she'd been in Quinn's place.

"You're right Quinn." And with that Mackenzie stood up and walked out of the kitchen through the living room and out of the house. Just before she shut the door she heard Quinn call out, "I told you you wanted to leave!"

Then Mackenzie began to run.


	16. Chapter 16

~So Come on Baby Be With Me So Happily~

Mackenzie didn't stop running until she was in front of Henderson house. Taking a deep breath she climbed the steps up to the porch and marched up to the front door. hesitating for a brief moment Mackenzie knocked on the door.

Mackenzie waited with bated breath before the door swung open to reveal Henderson's mother.

"Why, hello Mackenzie. Are you here for Henderson?"

Mackenzie couldn't seem to make herself speak so instead she nodded her head and Henderson's mother disappeared from sight but didn't shut the door. Mackenzie could hear her faintly yelling for Henderson. Finally Henderson appeared in the doorway and before he could even say hello Mackenzie began speaking at a very rapid pace.

"So I really, really like you, like a lot. And there are multiple reasons like you're really good looking and you never call me Kenz or Kenzie or any other silly nickname I'm always just Mackenzie and I don't know why but that makes me feel special. Plus you're really nice and a great kisser and you know how weird I can be and yet you still seem to like me and I know that you're going to be a senior and that this time next year we'll probably have to break up but I don't care because I really do like you Henderson and I think that maybe we could make it work and holy cow I need to shut up and-"

"Mackenzie."

"What?" Mackenzie was out of breath and scared and Henderson was looking at her in a way he'd never looked at her before. "Oh, crap...I shouldn't have said anything." Mackenzie then turned to walk away when Henderson grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"I'd happily date you." Henderson smiled a slow, easy smile and Mackenzie returned it before they both leaned in and they kissed.

Henderson and Mackenzie then lived happily ever after....for a while anyway....I mean come on, they're teenagers for crying out loud.


End file.
